I Love You Brother

When I Met You

~It's hard to remember that night I met him. Not because I have a bad memory or I don't remember it. Not because it still hurts to this day. It's hard because it makes me wish I could do everything all over again. I would run back to our house on that cold, rainy day. I would have told the whole wedding the truth. I would have told his father to stay home on that dreadful day...

The first time I met him was at the North Carolina state fair. As a kid, I had grown up attending this festival every year. My mother would take me, attempting to help cheer me up. She seemed to think it would numb the pain of my life without my father and the fact that she was so ill. Breast cancer. It happens to the best of us. That's my mom. But the only person that disagreed, was my father.

When he left, we both had different reactions. I moped around the house, and didn't talk for months. Friends no longer were important, and at the time, didn't exist. So I sat home alone. Everyday. It was quiet, so I knew what my mother was doing. On the nights she told me to go in my room, turn on the television loud so I couldn't hear her and her new boyfriend "talking", I knew she was trying to find a cure for her loneliness. There would be a new, strange man each time. But love was never found in our house. It was just a silence, and a fake promise.

But that summer night, gave me hope.

It was the day we had gotten out of school. I was 15, just finishing my junior year. Being smart had its ups and downs. I was good at school. My mother had an obsession that I do well so I can get a high paying job in the future. How was I supposed to have time for sports, or an instrument, or make friends? I was a freshman in their eyes. People didn't want to be my friend. But it didn't come as hard as I was expecting the bullet to hit me. I met two people who would stay in my life all through high school: Gabriel and Sophie.

When the time came around for the anual state fair, I finally went with friends. It wasn't an escape, it wasn't a "shove it in your face" happy place. This night was about my friends and I. Too bad the hundreds of people shoving me in every direction didn't care.

"So Anna," Gabriel squealed in my ear. The girls and I were arm in arm heading toward the ticket tent. "is there anything going on with you and Brian?" Both her and Sophie looked at me with wide eyes with hopeful ambitions. I blushed and hid my face. They both screamed. I laughed at their middle school response to my shy personality.

"No way!" Sophie exclaimed as loud as she could. I quickly put a hand over her mouth and shushed her.

"Listen, the both of you, I don't know yet. There might be," I paused for dramatic effect. "but we'll see tonight!" We all squealed, then composed ourselves. For we were in the middle of a huge crowd of both neighbors and strangers who had stopped to stare.

As time would have it, we ran into the guys from East High. Including the d-bag I had wanted to impress at the time. I ran up to Brian who gave me a big hug, lifting me off the ground, and twirling me around in circles. I laughed and told him to put me down like all the girls do. When he did, he looked directly into my eyes and for a second looked serious. I was expecting a kiss, but was let down when he ruined the moment. He always does.

"Ready to hurl on the 'Tilt-a-Wirl'?" He laughed. I tried to laugh, but it came out blandly. Too bad he didn't notice.

That night, we rode every ride in the fiar at least twice. I was personally bored of the sport. After we rode the 'Tilt-a-Whirl' two times, I told Brian I needed a drink.

"Okay," he grinned. "don't be long! We're going to ride the ferris wheel soon!" That was que for "We're going to make out soon and hopefully do it after". I nodded and quickly escaped the scene to get to the nearest food stand. The line was long, thankfully. So I waited and was happy to wait. It was loud and there was so much commotion around me. This date wasn't going that great. And to make things worse, he was laughing like a dying seal 15 yards away. Then it hit me. Literally.